Faithful

by Kelly Elliott

Page 40

 

  What in the fuck?

  I banged on the window, and they both jumped.

  Gunner rolled down his window. “What’s wrong?”

  “You just sat through a damn green light while you were sucking face with my baby sister, you douche. ”

  Gunner gave me that damn smile of his. “I can’t help it if I sweep your baby sister off her feet, dude,” he said with a wink.

  Ellie started laughing as Ari honked the horn.

  “Fucker!” I jogged back to my truck and jumped in, shaking my head. “Stupid romantic ass. ”

  Ari started laughing as Gunner punched it when the light turned green again, and we made our way to Luckenbach.

  As soon as we pulled up and parked, Ari jumped out of the truck and ran over to Ellie. I knew she had been dying to talk to her. Gunner smiled and gave me another wink.

  Bastard. Thinks he’s all romantic and shit. I can be just as romantic as his ass. “Keep on smiling, dude. I’ve got my game on tonight,” I said as I slapped his back.

  Gunner started laughing. “Yeah, okay…if you think you’ve got what it takes to outromance me, dude, bring it. ”

  “Oh, I will. I am! You wait and see. ”

  I turned around to see Heather with a big-ass smile on her face as Ari and Ellie attacked her. They each grabbed her arm and started heading into the dance hall. I watched as they walked by. They were talking so damn fast that my head was spinning from just trying to figure out what they were saying.

  Baby…twins…cribs…wedding…

  Gunner turned to me, and he looked just as confused. I shrugged my shoulders and glanced back to see Josh walking up with the biggest damn smile I’d ever seen on his face.

  I stuck out my hand to shake his. “Congratulations, Daddy!”

  Josh laughed. “Twins! Can you fucking believe it? Twins. ”

  Gunner started laughing as he slapped Josh on the back. “Let’s buy you twin beers. ”

  When we walked in, I saw Scott right away. “Ah hell. What’s Scott doing here?”

  Gunner shook his head. “Dude, he’s not after Ari. He never was. He just likes fucking with you. ”

  “How do you know that?”

  Gunner looked over toward Scott and then back at me. “Look at who he’s watching like a hawk. He can’t keep his eyes off her. ”

  Josh and I both noticed at the same time, and then we both asked, “Jessie?”

  “Yep. He stopped by the other night, and we had a few beers. He opened up and said he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her since the night he drove her home after they dropped off my drunk ass. ”

  “Really? Jessie, huh?” I said with a smile on my face.

  “Dude, Ari is so head over heels in love with you. You ain’t got nothing to worry about,” Josh said with a chuckle and started toward the bar.

  After about four beers, I was feeling pretty good. Ari was having fun, and Ellie was so damn happy that my heart was overflowing.

  That was when I saw the bastard talking to the DJ. What in the hell is his romantic ass up to? “Ah hell…what’s he doing, Josh?”

  Josh looked over toward Gunner and shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know. ”

  Gunner started to walk back toward us, but he was focusing only on Ellie.

  “Holy hell, Ellie. That boy is looking at you with nothing but love in his eyes,” Amanda said.

  I glanced over at Brad and Amanda. She was sitting on his lap, and his hands were on her belly. I smiled, thinking about how far they had both come in the last few weeks.

  Then, Kenny Chesney’s “Because of Your Love” started to play. Gunner walked up and reached for Ellie’s hand. “Dance with me?”

  Ellie smiled and stood up as he kissed the back of her hand. As they were heading out to the dance floor, Gunner turned around and winked at me.

  I watched while they were dancing, and Ellie buried her face into his chest. I had to hand it to him. He made my sister happy. I grinned just a bit at the thought of my best friend and sister being so in love with each other.

  “He loves her so much,” Ari said from behind me. She put her arms around me and kissed my cheek.

  “I know he does. ”

  “He’s so sweet with the way he’s always sweeping her off her feet. ”

  Wait. What?

  She moved around and sat down next to me, facing Amanda and Heather.

  “Did Ellie tell you how he packed up everything the other day and took her and Alex to the river for a picnic?” Heather asked.

  The other two sighed.

  I looked over at Josh, and he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Then, I glanced toward Brad.

  “Don’t even try, dude. He’s got us all beat,” Brad said.

  Fuck this shit. I stood up and walked over to the DJ. I can be just as romantic as Gunner.

  I asked the DJ to play a certain song, and he gave me a thumbs-up. When I went back to our table, I noticed Brad and Josh laughing at me.

  Bastard friends.

  Ari tilted her head at me and smiled. Gunner and Ellie were standing there, talking to Heather, when I sat down.

  Leaning down, Gunner whispered in my ear, “Hope you picked a good song. ”

  I snapped my head around to him. He started laughing, and I was just about to curse his ass out when “Like Jesus Does” by Eric Church started.

  I jumped up and pulled Ari to me. “I love you, Ari. ” I kissed her with as much passion as I could. When I moved away, I picked her up and carried her out to the dance floor. After I slowly let her down, I kissed her again. “This song is for you, baby. ”

  I saw the tears building in her eyes. She grabbed the back of my neck and brought me in for another kiss. Her low moan moved through my body like water.

  She pulled away from my lips and looked up at me. “I love you so much. You have no idea how much I love you. ”

  I smiled at the love of my life as I wiped away the tear rolling down her face. “I think I have a pretty good idea. I love you, too, baby…so damn much. You will never know how much I need you. My life would be nothing without you and Luke. ” I placed my hand on her stomach as I looked into her beautiful green eyes. “And our baby girl. ”

  She buried her head in my chest as she started crying. Then, she began laughing as she looked up at me.

  “What if it’s a boy?” she asked with a wink.

  I shook my head. “Nope. I feel it in my soul. Our baby girl is sending us her sister. ”

  She looked into my eyes and smiled. “I feel it, too. ”

  We finished off the dance and then danced to the next song.

  Afterward, we walked back toward everyone. Gunner was sitting there with that damn smile on his face. I smiled right back. Take that for romance, you ass.

  Brad started laughing.

  “What? I totally had that,” I said as I gave Brad a dirty look.

  Brad shook his head and whispered something into Amanda’s ear. Amanda got up and moved to another chair as Brad started walking up to the DJ.

  I glanced over toward Gunner.

  He started laughing. “Dude, what the fuck did you start?”

  I grinned and shrugged my shoulders.

  Brad turned and came back with a big-ass smile on his face. He walked up to Amanda and held out his hand. She looked up at him as she put her hand in his.

  He pulled her closer to him. “Will you dance with me to the next song?”

  Amanda smiled and reached up to kiss him. “Of course I will. ”

  Just then SafetySuit’s “Never Stop” started playing as Brad led Amanda to the dance floor.

  I looked at Gunner.

  He just started shaking his head. “Fucker…that’s a good song. ”

  Gunner looked at Josh, who was taking a drink of his beer as he shook his head.

  Damn it.

  “Look at those two cutting it up out there!” Ellie walked up and sat on Gunner
’s lap.

  Sitting down next to me, Ari watched Brad and Amanda dance. “I’m so glad they worked things out. I pray that Brad stays strong. ”

  I couldn’t pull my eyes away from Ari. She was so beautiful.

  She looked back at me as she tilted her head. “They’re gonna be okay, right?”

  “Yeah, baby. They’re gonna be okay. ”

  Scott walked up and reached out his hand toward me. I stood up and shook it. He reached for Gunner’s hand. “Hey, Gun. ”

  “What’s up Scott?” Gunner said with a wink.

  “Hey, Scott. Listen, I’m really glad you’re gonna make it to the wedding,” Josh said, standing with a smile.

  Scott grinned and looked at Heather and then back at Josh. “You know it, dude. Oh, I’ve been meaning to tell you that the office furniture you made me is great. I’ve gotten so many compliments on it. I also gave out your phone number to a few people. ”

  Josh nodded. “I really appreciate that. ”

  “You’re very talented, Josh. I see you going really far with this. ” He looked at Heather and gave her a big smile. “Congratulations. I heard you’re having twins. ”

  Heather smiled and blushed.

  “So, who all is heading to the beach for the wedding?” Scott asked.

  “It’ll mostly be just family and friends along with a few business associates that I’ve known since my dad ran the business. ”

  “Is Jenny helping to plan it?” Scott asked.

  When I looked over at Gunner, he smiled and winked at me. We both knew where this was going.

  Heather smiled. “Yes! She’s amazing. I mean, only Jen could put together a wedding in just a few short weeks. ”

  “An out-of-town wedding to top it off!” Josh said with a laugh.

  Scott smiled. “So…is Jessie going to be there?”

  Heather perked up a bit as she snapped her head over toward Ellie.

  “Yep, Dewey also,” Heather said.

  Brad and Amanda came back to the table as I noticed Josh walking away.

  “Hey, Scott. Damn, man, it’s been a long time. ”

  “Hey, Brad. Shit, it has been. How are you doing?”

  Brad looked over at Amanda and put his hand on her stomach. “Pretty damn good!”

  Scott glanced at Amanda’s pregnant belly and laughed. “I’d say so. ”

  Brad and Scott talked for a bit as I looked around for Josh. He was talking and laughing with the DJ.

  Ah, so the little bastard is going to have his hand in the romance department this evening.

  Gunner reached up and handed Scott a beer as Scott sat down.

  Then, Gunner turned to me. He leaned in toward me, so only I could hear him. “Does he think he stands a chance?” Gunner looked out at Josh.

  I laughed. “I guess he does. This should be interesting to watch. ”

  Gunner and I both sat back and started to drink our beers as we watched Josh talking to the DJ.

  “He’s probably asking the DJ to recommend a good song,” Gunner said with a chuckle.

  Brad sat down as he started laughing. “Think so? This is gonna be good. Gotta give him props for trying though. I think I have both of y’all beat with my song. ”

  Gunner and I both looked at Brad as he smiled and took a sip of his Coke.

  “Ari cried,” I said.

  “Oh, come on, dude,” Brad said.